Hats On For Canada™

ILMC.ca is proud to announce HatsON For Canada™

An innovative campaign that seeks to celebrate minds one hat at a time. HatsON For Canada™ exists to bring awareness to the hardships faced every day by Canadians affected by mental illness. We believe that by encouraging open dialogue about issues relating to mental illness, we can eliminate the stigma that still plagues our country and increase the number of Canadians who receive treatment for their illness.

Our goal is to sell 150,000 hats by the end of 2017, in honour of Canada’s 150th anniversary. HatsON For Canada™ supports mental health awareness through partnership with the Canadian Mental Health Association, one of the most prominent mental health service providers in Canada. Proceeds from every hat we sell go directly to local CMHA offices across the country, to assist them in providing valuable mental health supports to their communities. Mental health is an increasingly relevant issue in today’s society, especially given the disproportionately large numbers of Aboriginal Canadians who are adversely impacted by depression, anxiety, PTSD, alcoholism, suicide contemplation and related psychological disorders. Recent suicide clusters have drawn our attention to the need for increased open dialogue regarding the importance of mental self-care, and the critical importance mental health supports such as counseling services, psychiatric departments of hospitals, online and telephone support services and even the public school system must play in keeping our population safe and healthy. HatsON For Canada™ addresses this niche by empowering Canadians to open up about their experiences with mental illness while coming together to advocate for those in need.

HatsON For Canada™ engages the community by recruiting volunteers – particularly students – to spearhead individual awareness campaigns in their local regions based around CMHA office locations. Though HatsON For Canada™ supports the participation and mental well-being of every Canadian, it is primarily a youth-driven and youth-inspired initiative. Through encouraging youth to take active roles in thiscampaign, we are helping young people realize their true potential to incite meaningful change to create a healthier, stronger nation for our future generations, because not only are youth the Canada of tomorrow; they are the Canada of today.